Brilliant, beautiful and brave
by Ragata
Summary: Brooke and Lucas express their feelings towards each other. It is set right after the ending of season five - and I made Leyton the end-game there. Sorry about that.


**Brooke's POV **

"I'm okay." Brooke Davis smiled softly, but the sadness in her eyes could not be ignored, though. "You chose her, and I am fine with that... now." The tip of her tongue licked her lip gently. She could feel something rushing through her head. Just like the cold breeze she had felt this summer. The fourth summer without him. She lifted her gaze to the ceiling as she felt her eyes getting sour. She didn't want to cry. Not again. Not over this, again.

"When we broke up, I was broken," she whispered. She hadn't meant for it, but the words simply just came out more softly and more silently than she wanted them to. "I was cut into pieces. And I missed you. Every day. Every night. Even when I met other guys, I still saw your face in front of me." She exhaled loudly and held back the tears; she so badly didn't want him to see. She thought back on the day she realized the love of her life had in fact another love of _his_ life. Lucas loved Peyton. He wanted Peyton next to him when all of his dreams came true. And though Brooke had in fact been the one to send him off to Peyton, she was hurting. But she wanted them both to be happy. She put their happiness before hers. And she was proud of herself because of it. She also despised herself because of the fact that she could have fought for Lucas harder.

If she would not have given up on him and practically given him to Peyton, maybe they wouldn't be over. Maybe she wouldn't stay up late at night wondering how it could've been. She thought she would be happier. But Lucas was with Peyton now. And they _were_ happy. "I don't want to tell you that I still miss you." Brooke sat down next to him on his bed. "Because that would be incredibly unfair, to everyone." She looked into his warm, squeezed-together eyes. "But I do. I do miss you. I miss everything we had. I miss everything we were." She put a hand on her heart as if she was protecting it from something that could break it and pressed her lips together.

"I would never ask you to leave Peyton for me, Lucas. And I am pretty sure you wouldn't do that, even if I would ask," she said and smiled forced. "But I just wanted you to know." She rose from the bed and walked towards the door; the door that was once painted red for her. Her jaw dropped a bit as if she was trying to find he right words as she turned to face him again. But there were no words.

**Lucas' POV **

"Brooke, wait!" Lucas Scott wasn't sure what he was going to say. He wanted to find those words that were perfect for this moment, the words that would make them all happy. She stopped right outside the house and turned around as he walked up beside her.

"I'm sorry," he said it again, the two words that was so wrong to say now but yet the only thing that came to his mind. He had to add something. He couldn't leave her with that. "You're probably right, Brooke," he said, gazing her beautiful eyes. "I couldn't leave Peyton. I love her. I do." He took her hand in his as he gave her a simple smile. "But that doesn't mean I don't love you too," he admitted. Lucas did love Brooke. He had never stopped loving her. Even though he was officially in a relationship with Peyton and she was suppose to be the only girl he was in love with, he really felt the same way towards Brooke. He had just chosen Peyton over her. Why, he couldn't really tell himself.

Maybe because he and Brooke said they were good as just friends and maybe because she had told him to go for it with Peyton. If she hadn't done that would he still want Brooke to be the one next to him when all of his dreams came true? He knew that he would be just as happy with Brooke, who knows maybe even happier. But now it was too late to find out. He could not leave Peyton after all she had been through. And what if it shouldn't work out with him and Brooke. It would bring back all the high-school drama they had, the three of them. He didn't want that. Not for himself, or Peyton and especially not for Brooke.

He had hurt her too much, when it came to their stupid love-triangle. He wasn't going to do it again. "But we're friends, Brooke." She smiled and nodded. She understood him, completely. "And we've done so well with that. I love to have you as my friend. And as you said... it wouldn't be fair to anyone of us." He saw a tear streaming down her perfect cheekbones. She was so beautiful. He held her hand tighter, trying to comfort her. If he only could touch those perfect lips again with his, just one more time... But he wasn't going to. He couldn't give in to temptation again and ruin everything they had become and everything they were going to be from now on.

"I love you," Brooke said letting go of all the tears burning in her eyes. "But you know what? If you are happy with Peyton, which I know you are – then I am happy too." He brushed a tear away from her cheek and smiled. "She is fiercely independent, Brooke Davis, brilliant and beautiful and brave. In six years she have grown more than anyone I have ever known. The world _still_doesn't stand a chance." She smiled and threw her arms around him, holding him tighter than ever before. He smelled her hair and decided to remember that scent forever in his mind. She did smell the exact same way she did all those years ago, when they had been an item. He remembered the white little bottle that contained the perfume she wore. The perfume itself sparkled. Fit perfectly to her personality, he thought.

He was with Peyton now, and probably forever. But that was not going to mean he would forget all about Brooke and the time they had together – and the friendship they would have in the future. No way, he could never forget the love-of-his-high-school-life. That was what she was. In high school she had been the one. But that was over now. And the good thing was, that they were both okay with that. They knew where they had each other. Their love would never stop.


End file.
